How SCHUNCK brings Jira beyond IT with Microsoft 365

Jira has been an established part of SCHUNCK’s IT operations for years. Now, the B2B insurance broker is bringing Jira into its business departments, where employees have traditionally organized their daily work almost entirely in Microsoft.

At Atlassian Team Europe in Amsterdam, Florian Staab, IT consultant and project manager at SCHUNCK, shared how the company is approaching Jira adoption beyond IT. With Microsoft 365 for Jira by yasoon, SCHUNCK connects Microsoft communication with Jira work items, helping employees transition to structured workflows without giving up the email functionality they rely on.

The customer challenge: Jira adoption beyond IT in Microsoft-centric business teams

SCHUNCK is a B2B insurance broker specializing in logistics and industrial customers. The company has used Jira in its IT department for many years, primarily for IT support. Building on that experience, SCHUNCK began expanding Jira adoption beyond IT by rolling out the platform to its business departments. These teams manage communication with insurers and clients, making email an essential part of their daily work.

While the IT department was already comfortable using Jira, business employees were accustomed to organizing their work in Outlook. Introducing Jira therefore meant finding a way to make the new workflows practical for employees who rely on Microsoft communication tools.

The integration approach: Connecting Microsoft 365 with Jira workflows

SCHUNCK chose Microsoft 365 for Jira to make the transition easier for its business departments. Instead of requiring employees to switch between Jira and Outlook, the integration allows them to work with Outlook email directly inside Jira. Email conversations are connected to the relevant Jira work items, so employees can access communication alongside the work items they are managing.

This changes how information is organized. Rather than searching through Outlook folders to reconstruct an email conversation, employees can find the relevant communication in the Jira work item. The result is a workflow that combines Jira’s structured work management with the familiar communication capabilities of Microsoft Outlook.

The business benefits of connecting Jira and Microsoft 365

Florian highlighted three practical benefits of integrating Microsoft with Jira:

• Less application switching: Employees can work with Outlook inside Jira instead of moving between applications, saving time during daily work.
• Easier access to conversations: Email threads remain connected to Jira work items, reducing the need to search through Outlook folders.
• Better handovers during absences: When someone is sick or unavailable, colleagues can review the existing communication directly in Jira and continue the task.

For SCHUNCK, this is particularly valuable when employees take over a colleague’s work. Instead of searching through Outlook folders to understand previous conversations, they can access the relevant email threads directly in Jira. Florian highlighted how this saves time, makes information easier to find, and helps colleagues continue work during absences.

Jira adoption beyond IT: Making the transition easier for business teams

SCHUNCK’s experience illustrates an important aspect of enterprise Jira adoption. Technical implementation alone does not determine whether employees will embrace a new workflow. Business teams already have established ways of organizing their work. At SCHUNCK, Outlook was central to those habits.

By bringing Outlook functionality into Jira, the company can introduce structured work management without asking employees to abandon familiar workflows. This approach helps bridge the gap between IT departments, where Jira is already established, and business departments. For companies looking to extend Jira across their organization, connecting existing communication tools with Jira can make the transition more practical for employees.

What’s next: Atlassian Rovo and AI-assisted workflows

SCHUNCK is also exploring how Atlassian Rovo could support its business processes. However, Florian explained that the company is still working through regulatory considerations before introducing Rovo. The goal is to use AI to simplify recurring workflows by recognizing the context of specific business cases.

For example, if a process regularly requires an email with specific wording, attachments, and recipients, an AI assistant could help prepare the email or automatically fill out templates using relevant information. This could reduce repetitive manual work and make recurring processes easier to complete.

What Jira administrators can take from SCHUNCK’s approach

SCHUNCK’s approach offers practical lessons for organizations expanding Jira beyond IT. Start by understanding how business teams currently work. If employees organize customer communication through Outlook, consider how conversations can become part of structured Jira workflows without creating additional steps.

Pay attention to handovers. Test whether colleagues can easily access the information they need, rather than relying on individual inboxes. Finally, consider future AI use cases early, while keeping implementation plans grounded in organizational requirements. The objective is not simply to introduce Jira to more employees. It is to make Jira useful in their existing business processes.

Microsoft 365 for Jira offers deep integration between Jira, JSM and Microsoft tools, including Outlook email, meetings, Microsoft Teams, and To Do. However, every company has different workflows and priorities, so there is no single starting point for adoption. For SCHUNCK, the focus was on bringing Outlook communication into Jira to support business teams. Other organizations might start with Microsoft Teams collaboration, service management, or task synchronization, depending on where connecting the two platforms would make the biggest difference.

Connecting Jira and Microsoft 365 in the insurance industry

SCHUNCK’s experience shows how integrating Microsoft Outlook with Jira can support the transition from IT-focused ticketing to broader business workflows. With Microsoft 365 for Jira, employees can manage structured Jira work while accessing Microsoft communication in the same environment.

By bringing Microsoft into Jira, SCHUNCK helps employees manage customer communication, find information faster, and take over work more easily. The next step is exploring how Atlassian Rovo can simplify recurring tasks.

Thank you, Florian, for sharing your experience and insights at Atlassian Team Europe in Amsterdam, it’s a pleasure to have customers like you.